Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: City of Hope. The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround.

Right now, its all about survival, Bing told Forbes.

Two years later, Detroits problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued.

The latest blow was Tuesdays announcement that the city is on the verge of being taken over by the state. Detroit is in a financial emergency and cannot pay its bills. The city has been issuing debt to fund day-to-day operations. The continuing problems propelled Detroit to the top spot in our 2013 ranking of Americas Most Miserable Cities.

And you would be amazed at how many Detroit boosters will actually try to convince you that it really isnt that bad! They always love to brag about their little day-trips there as if walking next to the river and staying in a tight little district in the center of town where the street lights work is the same as being there every day.

Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000

I'm stunned it's even that high. E-Bay has listings that show sales prices of $1,000 or less. Unless that's being offset by something that passes for high-end sales in a gated and heavily guarded subdivision, that $40K "median" is BS.

I was headed up 75 to get on 96 a few years back after fishing the river for Walleye when I came upon a detour.
I missed the off ramp and proceded to the next exit.
I think it was Michigan Ave. So I headed west.

After a few blocks I thought I was in Somalia. Trust me, the side arm was loaded and ready for service. I did not like being there at all. Had the boat on behind me. All I could think is If I get a flat Iam screwed...
I was envisioning a re-enactment of Black Hawk Down.

my lovely girlfriend (wifey now) and I took in a Genesis concert at Joe Louis arena (down on the river)...stayed at the Ren Cen..

on the way there (I used to live in Michigan), we got detoured off of 96, and ended up on some side street...dont know where, exactly, but I think we were in Dearborn.

anyway...at the time, I was driving a buick riviera..nice car, fit right into the neighborhood, except the skin color of the occupants. First thing we encounter is a burned out hulk of a pontiac grand prix, up on blocks, stripped and toasted...

needless to say, the doors stayed locked, and I got the HELL outta there as fast as I could. funny as hell.....now. a bit unnerving at the time.

Detroit is a perfect example of when parasites are left to fend for themselves. These people can’t exist without sucking off resources from good and decent hardworking people. All the filthy libs should be forced to live in Detroit, then we could see how really racially sensitive they are.

Wow, always nice to see you’re thinking along the same lines some great man once traveled. Not that I’ll ever be great. But at least I’m on the right track!

But it’s infuriating to think that those whom socialists want everyone else to suffer along with (no matter how innocent the third party might be), stupidly brought their intolerable misery on themselves — in close cahoots, of course, with the very socialists who are now preaching at us, pretending to be on some kind of moral high-road above us. That’s probably one of the worst sentences ever constructed by a native speaker of the English language, lol. But, what the hey, I’m so mad I could spit!

Flint is my home town. It was a really nice place when we had Republican mayors. Great school system, great health system, vibrant cultural centers, and lots of trees. I wanted to live on Chervrolet Avenue because of all the huge old houses. However, I left because there were no jobs. Most of my family has left, either out of the city or out of state. None of my friends live within the city limits anymore. You can’t go for a walk anymore because of all the loose pit bulls. When the vital people get outta Dodge there remains a vacuum which gets filled by people who don’t have any incentive to produce. People like me left for greener pastures. It’s a real dang festering shame. Flint was a great little city. We were Buick.

My post was sarcastic and probably seemed quasi racist. My point was that these areas were once shining jewels of civilization. Then the masses took over, led by community agitator types like Barack Obama. Blacks in these instances are only the vessel used by the agitators to affect change. It is easy to mobilize people by shouting racism. Nevertheless, these localities have gone downhill. And, no, Chicago is not Detroit. But it isn’t paradise either.

Something fishy here - 1) Lake County is a county, not a city; 2) Lake County includes Barrington, Barrington Hills, Bannockburn, Deerfield, Highland Park, Highwood, Kildeer, Lake Barrington, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, North Barrington, Old Mill Creek, and Riverwoods, all pretty ritzy addresses (I’d guess at least half the Chicago Bears and similar fraction of the Bulls lived in Lake County - and that includes a mansion in Bannockburn that Michael Jordan is trying to unload).

Lake County has plenty of trashy areas - much of North Chicago and Waukegan are dumps, but “#9 least livable *city”? - that’s just silly.

Oh, I didn’t have any problem with your post...it just made me curious to see exactly what is the racial break-down of Detroit. I know alot of people who are ‘from Detroit’...all white, and all have decided to leave.

A liberal will call this ‘white flight’ and blame them for all of Detroit’s problems.

A typical man on the street intuitively knows (but isn’t brave enough to state it out loud) that the problem runs deeper.

And I think you nailed it with this statement:

“It is easy to mobilize people by shouting racism.”

It is human nature - once you give yourself permission to fail, because there is a full time scapegoat that can be blamed, you will no longer attempt to reach your full potential.....and you get places like Detroit. I think George W. Bush called it the ‘soft racism of low expectations’.

27
posted on 02/22/2013 2:32:24 PM PST
by lacrew
(Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)

It should be the other way.. Lots of nice areas with little bubbles of poverty. Difference between the political parties.
I live in a small town.. There’s two blocks (on different sides of town) that are raunchy, and the occasional house that’s run down. Mostly a nice area.. But we go well over 70% republican. There’s the difference.

You remember flint being nice? When do you celebrate your 90th birthday?

You are way off. I am not yet 60. I bumped into my choir director in high school who is over 90 and he told me that the year I graduated, which was 1971, was the best year he had in his entire teaching career. He added that it quickly deteriorated shortly after that. He ended up leaving like everyone else did.

That was kind of a joke..
I’m younger than you, and from lansing. I remember my dad having to commute in the 80s to flint and he always carpooled. I was much older before I understood why if the guy he carpooled with called in sick, so did he. There was no way he was going there alone.

I worked in downtown Detroit for a few months back in the late 80s....My first day on the job, my boss tells me, “I don’t want to see you in this office past 4:30”. It was pretty much understood that you had to get out of dodge before sunset.

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